Limits of Analytical Accuracy for Two Critical Semiconductors Systems: (Al, Ga)(As, P) and (In, Ga)(As, P)

Abstract

Abstract Among the more important semiconductor materials, with commercially important applications in microelectronics, photonics, and nanodevice development are alloys in the system GaP-GaAs-AlAs- InAs (e.g., 1). These components have extensive regions of solid solution. With the wide variety of phases that can be grown in this system, it is possible to “tailor” heterojunctions that have desired band offsets or quantum wells that have a given shape of confinement potential, which is the basis of “bandgap engineering” (e.g., 2-4). In order to characterize the properties of these phases and maintain quality control in the manufacturing of devices utilizing these phases, it is critical to be able to perform accurate determinations of their compositions. This can be especially difficult, since many of the applications utilizing these phases involve micro- or nano-devices or thin multilayer coatings. In terms of the spatial analysis requirements, electron microbeam x-ray microanalysis is ideally suited for characterization of such specimens.